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For a club who have been champions of Europe three times, a win in continental competition really shouldn’t be such a rarity. But it was 380 days since Manchester United had tasted victory against foreign opposition. Now, finally, they have.
That year-long wait had formed one of the damning statistics that engulfed Erik ten Hag towards the end of his reign. After arguably United’s worst ever European campaign last season – certainly among those to feature a group stage – came a trio of draws. Ruud van Nistelrooy can at least succeeded where Ten Hag had failed, chalking up a Europa League triumph at the first time of asking, even if his victims are winless in this competition.
Amad Diallo struck twice and starred to defeat PAOK. It may prove a timely display of excellence, with a new manager to impress. It gave a belated kickstart to United’s Europa League campaign. They rise to the dizzying heights of 15th. Ruben Amorim will trade a club second in the Champions League for one rather lower in the junior competition but at least with the table looking a little less ignominious.
United’s record on the continent still requires plenty of improvement. It was just their second win in 12 European games; the other still required an injury-time penalty save from Andre Onana. Whereas Ten Hag’s debut season featured a wonderful win over Barcelona, United have been European underachievers for 19 months. Some would say they have been since the 2011 Champions League final.
Relatively modest as this scoreline was, it was still their biggest win in Europe since March 2023. It also represented a welcome improvement after a first half that was an indictment of United. The two teams appeared evenly matched. They do in many a United game and they mustered a lone effort on target before the break.
Amad topped that tally on his own afterwards. He had been United’s brightest performer from the off, surging to the byline, claiming a penalty when caught by Baba Rahman, delivering the enticing cross that Rasmus Hojlund headed at Dominik Kotarski.
He secured the breakthrough himself with a looping header after Bruno Fernandes’ deep cross. For the captain, it was a welcome change to his fortunes in continental competition: sent off in Porto, he was suspended for the trip to Fenerbahce (Noussair Mazraoui, picked as a No 10 then, was not asked to reprise the role). Diallo, meanwhile, had not begun a game at all since the visit to Portugal.
He finished it with two goals and a standing ovation. For his second, he won the ball from Rahman, showed tigerish determination to advance and unleashed a shot that took a sizeable deflection on its way in. It was an illustration that the £85m Antony is not even the best left-footed right winger at Old Trafford.
And it meant that, this time, United managed to shed their drawing habit. They had lost a lead in each of their three previous Europa League games. Before Amad’s second, Tarik Tissoudali should have levelled but shot at Onana when he met Taison’s pass. The goalkeeper, so culpable in Europe last season, had already made a valuable first-half save to tip Mady Camara’s rising half-volley over. With the lively right winger Andrija Zivkovic trying a couple of ambitious efforts, PAOK had an occasional threat.
For United, Fernandes was influential but it could be a cause of concern that Hojlund went a fifth game without a goal. He is no nearer to being prolific, whereas Viktor Gyokeres has averaged a goal a game for Amorim at Sporting. Joshua Zirkzee’s cameo, however, means he now averages a goal every 16 appearances for United, whereas even Wout Weghorst had a ration of one every 15.5.
Van Nistelrooy was rather more potent than either in his own playing days and the interim manager swapped his centre-backs over, picking Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof. Even when Lisandro Martinez came on, it was at left-back. There was an element of squad rotation with Marcus Rashford beginning on the bench, but it gave Amad a chance he took. Mason Mount emerged from the bench, meanwhile, to make his first appearance in over a month. The injury problems Ten Hag invariably bemoaned are easing while Amad, often a fringe figure, staked his case to be a starter in the new regime. And Amorim will start off with United having reacquainted themselves with the winning feeling in Europe.